Trouvaille
by The Readers Muse
Summary: He didn't have white pillowcases.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own "Grimm." Everything belongs to whoever owns them, my wishful thinking aside.

**Authors Note #1:** This has been rattling around in my drafts for months and months and I finally got some inspiration to take it from a half-formed idea into something more or less presentable. Basically, some alternative universes get tangled, the Nick from another universe is actually a lady, and Monroe's default emotion is basically confused and horny.

**Warnings:** time-line swap, female!nick, time-line fuckery, genderswap, sexual content, knotting, possible dubious consent issues due to trope, romance, drama, humor, first time.

**Trouvaille**

_**Chapter One**_

"Monroe...Oh- Jesus Christ. _Please_-"

He remembered going to bed alone. He remembered wearing plaid pyjama bottoms - worn soft and almost indecently thin - and his usual white cotton shirt. He remembered having one too many cups of tea and knowing it was going to have him up early, desperate to take a leak. He remembered putting his phone on mute as his head hit the pillow. Before guiltily turning it back off again after he cracked a lid, stared at it and groaned. Imagining every bad thing Nick might be getting into and probably calling him about - needing help. Swearing that if the little asshole woke him up before ten on a Saturday he'd have full licence to tear him a new one.

So, all things considered, when he woke up to long hair tickling his chest as a familiar smelling female rode him, he assumed what any hot-blooded male would. It was a dream.

A really _really_ nice dream.

He surged up, biting at the woman's lips before flipping them. Encouraged when her blissed out moan stuttered into a pleased laugh. Long black hair flaring out like a dirty halo - stark against the white pillowcase.

He didn't have white pillowcases.

"Monroe..." she murmured. Warm and silky and so familiar he nearly looked up for Nick. Feeling something tickle at the edge of his awareness as he scented down her neck. Laving at her nipple until she was burying her hands in his hair and scratching- _just right._

Something wasn't right.

But it was dark and his blood was surging.

She was wet. No, she was fucking_ soaking_. Giving around him with the kind of ease that spoke of things you couldn't fake. Things like want and desire. Trust. Love. Every good thing he'd wanted so badly for his own that apparently his dreams had taken him there. Giving him what he couldn't admit to needing as the woman's scent grew smoky. Heady with spring-rich minerals as his nose stalled on the obvious swell of her belly.

_Huh._

_That was new.  
_  
His growl only had her pull him closer. Letting him trace the stretched skin as he listened closely. Rumbling into her belly as the faint sound of tiny heartbeats reached him. _God_. Red misted over his vision when he finally looked up, finding her watching him. Pleased. Hungry. _His._

"Monroe..." she said again. Angling her head the same way Nick did when he wanted something. Coaxing him back until he was slipping his hand underneath her, gentling her up. Changing the angle as he hit a spot that made her-

He fell asleep with that same, familiar scent in his nose. Sated and pleased as he urged her hips up a fraction, burying his knot just a little bit deeper. The part of him not already passed out, animally pleased when he saw his mark fresh and red on her neck.

He hadn't marked her.

The wolf had been so satisfied he hadn't even considered it.

The problem that presented didn't fully sink in until later.

* * *

He didn't wake up alone.

In fact, he woke up with a jerk, spasming up and away with a startled yowl he'd deny to his dying day. Falling flat on his ass, naked on the floor as the woman snapped awake along with him, reaching for something on the bedside table. _A__ gun!_

"Monroe! What is it?!"

"What? I- no!" he stuttered intelligently, hands up until he realized she was looking at him with open concern. Blinking sleep out of her eyes as the fall of her breasts remained bare and open to him. Like he was allowed. His hands lowered slowly, staring long enough that he saw himself reflected in her dark eyes. Nick's eyes. _Grimm eyes_.

"Did you- was it a bad dream?"

But he wasn't listening.

He was too busy panicking.

Too busy connecting the dots.

Because she looked exactly like him.

She could have been Nick's freaking _sister_.

_His god damned twin.  
_  
It was all there in the familiar spice of her smell. The lines of her face and the way she held her gun. Even the way she'd said his name. Only it wasn't. _It couldn't be._ Because the last time he checked, Nick wasn't a woman. He wasn't half-in and half-out of his bed, breasts full and pink. Belly curved. Lush and elegant with pups. _His pups._

He wasn't-

_Oh Jesus._

"Monroe? What's wrong? Talk to me?"

She set the gun down slowly. Grabbing one of the sheets and wrapping it around her loosely as she got up and carefully walked around the bed. Movements exaggerated. Showing him she wasn't a threat as she awkwardly crouched down in front of him. One hand resting on her belly as she leaned against the box-spring.

He licked his lips, shaking his head, desperately trying to blink away the haze of red as his claws slowly sank back into his skin. Telling himself there was no threat over and over as anxiety and confusion warred for place. The little hairs on the back of his neck prickling as the scent of the room finally permeated.

It was his house.

But it didn't smell right.

It didn't-

"Who are you?" he finally forced out. Scrambling to his feet only to regret it immediately when he towered over her. Confused when she didn't flinch.

Still, he'd never hated himself more for the way her face fell.

* * *

He had to stop himself from immediately trying to sooth her when her scent dipped into distress. Wringing his hands as he collapsed on the side of the bed opposite where she'd turned so she could see him. Far enough that he felt secure, but close enough for- what exactly? Be there in case she needed help?

It sounded stupid in his head.

But it translated to his wolf as right.

The female was his.

He shook his head.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him. Clearly thinking carefully before she extended her hand for him to help her up. Something in her expression settling when he took it immediately. Instinctively scenting her again as she wavered close. Steadying her politely, only to go and ruin it when he was unable to stop his hand from drifting protectively to the small of her back.

She didn't say anything until they'd settled back on the bed. Side by side and hushed into a quiet sort of significance that gave him a moment to pull himself together and take a quick look around the room. More sure than ever that he wasn't where he was supposed to be as he eyed the light blue walls and the framed photos of him and- whoever she was on the walls and dresser.

"It's me, Nicole," she told him gently, reaching over to the little dish on her side table - skirting around her Glock - to show him the ring. Sending the sparkling of a modest, princess-cut diamond glittering in the early morning light. "Your...wife."

The words rebounded in his skull. Feeling something close to faint as heat rushed to his face. So confused he didn't even know what to do with the information.

_Wife?_

_Nicole?_

_Babies?_

He looked down. The sheets doing nothing to hide the curve of her belly and the claim inside. Remembering bits and pieces of the night before and how he'd been so sure that they were his. _But how? How was any of this possible?_

"Your...you're-" he cut himself off, gesturing at her stomach.

She smiled lightly.

"Yes, four months along."

He cleared his throat.

"A litter?"

She nodded, head tilted like it was obvious.

"Of course."

His hand twitched, claws itching as he held back the urge to woge by the skin of his teeth. Wolf howling with equal parts glee and alarm as the mix of familiar and unfamiliar had him more than a little off-balance.

"Mine?"

Her face scrunched up, just like Nick when he'd heard something he didn't like. Realizing she'd taken it in an entirely different way than he'd intended as he flailed a bit - hands back up. Gesturing his surrender as she watched through slitted eyes. Radiating warm irritation that sucked him in like nothing he'd ever experienced. Making it impossible not to reach out, unable to help the pull of instincts as he nudged her cheek with his nose.

The irritated scent eased a bit, warming into something buttery and soft as her hand rested on his. Cocking her head so he could have her throat as he took the invitation with barely a lick of hesitation. Scenting down her pale skin and finding-

_Oh god._

_Nick._

_She was Nick.  
_

Somehow she was Nick.

Only she was a she and she was _his_.

She must have said something because the next thing he knew she was right there again. Curling on his lap and nuzzling sharp little kisses across his cheeks and chin. Making the wolf in him snarl and want to stretch as he blinked down at her. More or less aware he was naked, hard and-

"Let me show you," she whispered, wiggling until his cock was pressed up against her slit. Parting her folds as the musky scent of her filled the air. Smelling himself there as he growled in spite himself. Making her grin as she took him in her small little hand. Gun callouses rasping across his sensitive head as she thumbed the bulge of his knot and slowly - _so_ _slowly -_ allowed him to push into her.

Admittedly, he lost himself for a bit.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. – There will be one more chapter.

**Reference:**

\- Trouvaille: A valuable discovery, or a lucky find; something lovely discovered by chance.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own "Grimm." Everything belongs to whoever owns them, my wishful thinking aside.

**Authors Note #1:** This has been rattling around in my drafts for months and months and I finally got some inspiration to take it from a half-formed idea into something more or less presentable. Basically, some alternative universes get tangled as the Nick from another universe is actually a lady and Monroe's default emotion is confused and horny.

**Warnings:**time-line swap, female!nick, time-line fuckery, genderswap, sexual content, knotting, possible dubious consent issues due to trope, romance, drama, humor, first time.

**Trouvaille**

_**Chapter Two**_

They were still curled up together, sticky and sated, when she spoke again.

"Don't take this the wrong way… but you're right. Somethings off. I- I don't think you're _my_ Monroe."

"No," he agreed, nosing into the back of her neck with a familiarity he really shouldn't be taking advantage of. Not sure if he was too fucked silly to freak out again or if some of Nick's pathological ability to roll with the punches had finally decided to sink in after all.

"What do you remember before this?" she asked, firming back into him lazily as her ass ground against his knot. Apparently unbothered that they were tied together or that his hips hadn't stopped hitching ever since they'd shaken apart. Whining under his breath as her body all but milked him dry. "Anything weird?"

It should have been surreal, but honestly it just felt right.

Wrong, but right.

It didn't make sense, he knew.

_But hey, what else was new?  
_  
He frowned, looking up from the nest of her hair. Resting his chin on the top of her head as he thought back.

"Not that I can think of," he started slowly. Picking through everything that'd happened over the last few days with a suspicious eye. Nick hadn't mentioned any new wesen problems. The only thing he'd talked about was wanting to clean out the trailer and-

_Ah.  
_  
_Yeah, god knows what his freaky Aunt had stashed in there. _

Nicole was surprisingly quick to agree when he shared his suspicions. Even going so far as to mention what could have caused it if that was the case. Mentioning that she'd gotten him - _her Monroe _\- to help her when she'd done the same thing earlier in the year. Something about two left feet, no appreciation for the labeling machine and three near disasters when she'd attempted to do it alone. Apparently, Nick's ability to create carnage in even the most innocuous situation was more or less universal.

The observation earned him a pinch on the thigh, but he just chuckled into her shoulder. Staring at the faded red of her mating scar. The same one her Monroe had renewed before they'd switched places somehow.

He buried his nose in the messy nest of her hair - just to find hints of Nick in her scent. Letting it calm him as the familiar and unfamiliar room threatened to put his hackles up. _Again_.

The trailer seemed like as good an explanation as any.

He stared at the opposite wall, the one that used to have a clock with a strange history and a missing August Schwer weight that was still on back-order. Worrying about his Grimm as he softened enough to slip out of her. Shifting slightly to signal she could move if she wanted, but pathetically grateful when she didn't. Equal parts pleased and mortified when she only moved deeper into his side. The warm weight of her breasts filling the hollow between his arm and ribs. Unable to stop himself from thinking that Nick would be all angles and probably completely uncomfortable.

He didn't care.

In fact, he kind of wanted to find out for himself.

_God damn it, Nick. What have you gotten yourself into this time?_

* * *

"So, what is she like? Your version of me, I mean? I think you said her name was Nick?" Nicole asked, as they puttered around the kitchen a few hours later. Mostly getting in each others way as they made breakfast.

He was glad she couldn't see his face as it colored with embarrassed heat. Shoulders hunching as he focused on flipping pancakes that weren't ready to be flipped and therefore needed his complete attention.

"Monroe?"

It wasn't really a question. It was more a demand. Saying it exactly like Nick did when he was trying to force him into something. Knowing he was stalling.

He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"My uh- my Nick is a guy and we never- we've never-"

There was a beat that was just as pregnant as she was before-

"That's a shame," she said mildly, blowing on her mug of tea before setting it down with a soft clunk. Mercifully not mentioning that he'd fallen dick first into her remarkably quickly for someone who was admitting that-

"Yeah..." he muttered. Nose twitching as the smell of himself - but not - rose up from the apron beside the door. Normally his instincts would be out of control at the scent of another blutbad in his territory. But since the scent was almost identical to his own, he was just left with a constant sort of irritation. Like an itch he couldn't scratch, it worried at him.

"Well, he might anyway," she finally offered. Significant and with absolutely zero bullshit in her tone. His head came up in surprise, catching her reflection in the chrome of the range hood. Watching her watch him.

And that's - not what he was expecting.

_Huh._

"Really?" he asked, turning to face her. Flinging a bit of pancake batter across the floor as the spatula came with him.

"_Really_," she replied, smiling encouraging as her elbow knocked dangerously close to her mug. "I had my fair share of fun in college. I'll bet he's the same. If you want him to be..."

He considered it as he slowly turned back to poke at the pancakes. Being with a guy wasn't exactly something he'd been interested in before. And yet, he couldn't deny he hadn't been thinking about it for a while now.

Nick was..._different_.

He startled when she appeared beside him. Gentling the spatula out of his hand and flipping the almost-burned pancakes herself - companionable and warm. Like in spite of everything, she found him just as familiar as he found her. His fingers curled around the counter-top, incisors itching as she leaned in, showing the creamy taper of her throat. Still struggling to keep a polite distance when she smelled so thickly of him.

"Sometimes it's about the person," she murmured wisely. "Not about anything else. I know it's different, but it was like that for me, in a way. I've known I was a Grimm since I was nineteen, my Aunt told me. But when I met Monroe, him being a blutbad didn't matter. It went against everything I'd been taught, everything I knew. But there was something about him I couldn't let go of."

He cleared his throat again. Thinking about the framed photos upstairs. The messy pile of her shoes mixed with his loafers in the front hall. So close to everything he wanted, but still not quite right.

"Sometimes you can bend in ways that surprise you," she offered, the angles of her face beautiful and sharp as her long hair curled down her shoulders. Making him suddenly homesick for short black hair, five o'clock shadows and a seemingly endless supply of worn leather jackets.

He didn't say anything for a while after that.

But privately, he was starting to agree.

* * *

"Monroe!? Monroe!"

He snapped awake in his own bed. On coal-grey pillowcases and dressed in the same soft pajamas he'd been wearing the night before all this weirdness began. Getting a weird vibe of déjà vu before his brain caught up with the rest of him.

"Monroe!? You there?!"

He was up and out of the sheets the same moment familiar footsteps slammed up the stairs. Catching Nick's scent - _his Nick_ \- exploding fresh into the space as the man skidded into the doorway and paused there. Staring.

He was surprised when it was him who lurched forward and grabbed the Grimm up. Hugging him fiercely.

"I found something in the trailer," Nick said sheepishly, before trailing off awkwardly. Squashed into the thin cotton of his t-shirt, gripping his forearms tightly as they wavered there. Bare feet curled and freezing against the Grimm's steel-toe boots.

"I'll bet you did," he muttered, inhaling throatily. Burying his nose into the crease of the man's neck and shoulder. Dragging his lips until the tart of raw skin rose in the close air. Irritated by the rasp of his stubble. "What was it? The silver mirror or the weird clay egg? Nicole had bets on the egg."

He forced himself to leave the spot alone when Nick let go of a soft little whine. Twitching against him as the patch of skin stood out like a deviant little highlight on the Grimm's skin.

_Jesus fuck, he'd all but marked him._

"The egg," Nick admitted sheepishly, looking up at him with a guilty wince. "In my defense, it looked harmless and had hinges. How was I supposed to know when I opened it the entire universe would-"

He trailed off awkwardly. Understandable considering he had him by the shirt collar and wasn't bothering to hide the way he'd buried his nose in the man's hair - just breathing him in.

_But the really crazy thing? __  
_  
_Nick just let him._

"So, um, you met her? The other me? What was she like? He was pretty- uh… over-protective about her and-"

Nick cut himself off again, shaking his head.

"Its really good to see you, Monroe."

_How was it possible to want to strangle and punch a person in the mouth with his mouth all at the same time?_

"You are a _disaster_," he growled, shaking his head. Letting go of him gruffly before scanning him up and down. Making sure he was fine. Nose twitching as the scent of what he could only assume was the other Monroe made him want to sneeze.

Nick huffed a laugh, knuckling a hand through his hair as he took a small step back. Putting at a bit of space between them.

He didn't like it.

"After I opened it, I must have passed out because I woke up on the floor and it was about three hours later. The egg was all weird and smoking, so I grabbed it and drove here. Only- well, it was_ him_ and uh- let's just say he's _a lot_ crankier than you."

"Bet that went well," he quipped. Mildly surprised the Grimm was still standing at all. Scenting the air as the chalky tang of dry-wall dust tickled from somewhere downstairs.

_Ah, man._

_Not another hole in the wall._

_Christ._

"He nearly shredded me a new asshole," Nick agreed. "The only reason he didn't is because I smelled like her - uh _me_, I guess - _and_ _him_ and it confused him long enough for me to start talking."

He let go of a long whistle, shaking his head.

"We figured out pretty quickly that whatever the egg does, you'd switched places somehow. He came here, you-"

"-went there," he finished, scrubbing his hand over his beard before he wilted onto the mattress. Looking over at the wall that had the cuckoo clock with the missing weight instead of clusters of smiling pictures.

"Hey, you okay?" Nick hedged, leaning against the opposite wall before sliding down it. Boots so close to his toes they could have brushed if he dared to stretch even a little.

It was a complicated question considering he was both relieved and disappointed. Mostly relieved. But also struck with the realization that there were some things his subconscious wanted that he'd been doing a pretty good job at repressing. Things like pack, a den-mate and pups.

But yeah, now that he had Nick back, he knew he would be. Eventually.

He could handle this.

He could be okay with the status quo.

"How did you fix it?" he asked instead.

"Research," Nick answered, smelling like book dust and exhaustion. "We spent the last two days in the trailer and figured out it would go back to normal on its own. Which didn't really help, honestly. He was uh- pretty intense."

He snorted.

"It's no wonder. He was in a house that smelled off. Had a missing mate, a litter on the way and an unfamiliar man barges in with a key?" he recited, rolling his eyes. "A stranger that is a _Grimm_, I should point out. Intense is normal for blutbads. Good thing he was a wieder, or it might have been a different story. My instincts were going haywire the entire time. You have no freaking idea, man. It didn't matter that I knew they weren't mine. The nose knows."

He paused to take a big, ol' inhale. Proving his point when he sneezed loudly.

"How much were you guys in here anyway? It's going to take ages to air this place out," he muttered grumpily. Covering for the fact that along with the chemical stink of broken drywall and anger, he could smell a few other things too. Like how the other Monroe's musk was all over Nick. Threatening to make his eyes flash red as he fought the urge to grab him up and follow it. "The other Monroe might be me, but that doesn't mean I like smelling another blutbad in my house."

Nick shook his head, smile fond. Letting his head thump back against the wall before he straightened and looked him right in the eye.

"I learned something about myself," Nick told him. Neck dark with embarrassment, but not once looking away. Causing the words to take on a significance he might not have caught if Nicole hadn't told him what she had that morning at breakfast.

That Nick, with his lovely ex-girlfriend and previously normal, white picket fence life, might swing both ways.

His mouth was dry.

"Yeah?" He managed. Unable to help the raspy, terrified, hopeful way it came out.

The smile that twitched Nick's lips was small. But it was there and his and frankly- he'd take it.

"Yeah. Turns out I might be as much of an idiot as you say I am. I think I missed some signals, more than some. And, well, I don't want to miss them anymore."

If he'd had any brain cells left, he might have crowed at that.

Because Nick really _was_ an idiot.

But this time, he was the bigger one.

"I woke up mid-sex," he blurted, watching Nick's eyes blow wide. "I thought it was a dream."

"Sounds like the better deal," Nick offered after a moment, eyes laughing.

He took a deep breath before he let the rest out. Contemplating the proverbial cliff he was standing on before chucking himself clear off it. Far away from the comfortable status quo.

"She smelled like you," he said quietly.

Bombs could have gone off and he wouldn't have looked away. Because it was all there, everything hinged on it. And Nick didn't disappoint. Going through the range of acceptable emotions before settling on-

"And that was why you-"

"-couldn't keep my hands off her," he finished, wondering if Nick was aware of the faint singe of jealousy that was wafting from him as whatever he'd been struggling with clicked into place.

"Oh," Nick breathed. "_Oh_."

"Yeah," he echoed intelligently, wondering if there were even words for this sort of thing. Instead, he let his toes fan out. So all Nick had to do was move his boot a millimetre forward for them to be touching and- _yeah_, of course he did.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," he admitted, half a warning as they stayed there together on the floor. More bothered than he cared to admit that he was the one going into this blind. It was the kind of thing that made his hackles puff.

"I do," Nick answered, blushing again. A mess of delicious, welcoming scents as the air turned humid and possible. Heavy enough that he opened his mouth to get it all in. Seconds away from fucking _panting_.

"Yeah, she said you might," he rumbled. Hoping that Nicole and her Monroe had reunited by now. Sparing a hopeful thought that the other version of him wouldn't be out for his blood on the off-chance they ever met.

Nick raised an eyebrow.

"What else did she say?"

He shook his head, shifting when his dick twitched against the thin material of his sleep pants.

"I'm more interested in you, right now, actually," he returned, eying him openly. A low, interested growl leaving his throat like a purr as Nick shifted. Inching just a little bit closer.

"Oh yeah?" the Grimm answered playfully.

"Unless you have another urge to clean out your trailer?" he teased. "And if that's the case, can I recommend fire-proof gloves and a label maker?"

Nick tossed a balled-up sock at him with a laugh as he got to his feet. Holding out his hand for him as he pulled him up. Wavering in each others space as the rest of the world gradually filtered away and he contemplated how Nick's lips would feel against his.

Hopefully he'd find out, soon.

* * *

Flexibility had never been something he'd been particularly good at.

But for Nick? Yeah- he could bend.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. – This story is now complete.


End file.
